Chapter 1396: The Midnight Setup The rumble of the engine echoed down the open road as Austin leaned into the ride, the wind rushing past his face. The bike felt lighter now, no extra weight, no annoying arrow-slinging Werewolf on his tail. Just him, the open stretch of asphalt, and the roar of the oncoming fight. There was still the large fleet of vehicles behind him, but that was part of the plan. Everything had been accounted for… almost. As he twisted the throttle, Austin felt a subtle vibration against his leg, his phone buzzing. ‘Midnight,’ he thought, eyes flickering to the city lights ahead. ‘We’re just about to enter Slough. These guys… they really planned it perfectly.’ A scowl tugged at the corner of his lips. ‘It’s not exactly honorable, picking a fight with us at our weakest, but we’ll show them. We’ll show them what happens when you corner the Howlers.’ But even with the adrenaline pumping and the path laid ahead, Austin couldn’t shake one thing from his mind, Innu. He hadn’t expected Innu to do what he did. If he stayed in the car, he and his companion would enter Slough from a different route than the rest of the fleet. That meant Innu was now alone, facing the bow-and-arrow user by himself. ‘He’ll be fine… right?’ Austin tried to reassure himself. ‘That idiot’s survived this long. He’s not going down to just another Werewolf. He wouldn’t have made that move if he didn’t have confidence. And if it were me in his place… I’d have done the same.’ The outskirts of Slough began to unfold before him. The silhouette of skyscrapers and apartment blocks grew closer, and the streets morphed into a familiar grid of four lanes. But something felt… off. The convoy of vehicles rolled in behind him, and though they followed closely, it wasn’t out of loyalty, it was necessity. The layout of the city itself was guiding them forward. Inside one of the vehicles near the middle, Slit, a member of the Ironfangs, rolled down his window. Cool night air rushed in as he stuck his head out, sniffing the air deeply. He was trying to catch the scent of the Howlers, to see if any of them were nearby. There were Werewolves in the area, he could tell that much from the general musk in the air, but his nose picked up something stranger. ‘The scent of humans is… missing?’ Slit narrowed his eyes. ‘There’s no one around. Did they clear out this whole area?’ That’s when the difference became glaringly obvious. The city was eerily silent. No lights flickered in the apartment buildings, no pedestrians strolled the sidewalks. Every intersection and side street they passed was completely blocked off. Cars were piled high, some even frozen together with thick blocks of solid ice. It was clear, whoever set this up didn’t want the Ironfangs going anywhere but where Austin was headed. Slit wasn’t the only one who noticed. Whispers passed between the Ironfangs like a current. “It’s a trap,” Ylva said from her vehicle, her voice calm but certain. “They’re herding us, trying to funnel us into a kill zone.” But her eyes glinted with battle-hardened fire as she added, “Let them. We’ll walk straight into it and destroy everything in our path, just as we always have.” At last, Austin could see it, the park. It was just up ahead, stretching to the right. A wide, open area filled with hills, car parks, lakes, and even restaurants. It was exactly where Gary had planned to keep the fight contained. High above the park, Gary stood silently atop an oval-shaped restaurant built on the tallest hill in the area. It wasn’t the perfect vantage point, but it gave him a broad enough view to observe what was coming. ‘So… this is it,’ Gary thought, staring at the distant roads. ‘I kept holding out hope that maybe Lupus would show up first, that he’d want to talk, to stop all this madness.’ But those hopes had been crushed the moment the fleet entered the city. ‘I could hear the engines the moment they rolled in. They’re not here to talk.’ He glanced up toward the moonlit sky. ‘And now, it’s officially past midnight.’ The change was subtle, no sudden shift in power, no dramatic flash, but something inside him did feel different. The full moon’s energy coursed through his body. Stronger, wilder. But more importantly… ‘I’m still getting a boost from my class due to it being night,’ Gary realized. ‘Even though I can’t transform, I can use more Qi at night. That means I’m not completely helpless.’ A gust of wind signaled the arrival of another figure. Crawley swooped down from above, his wings folding behind him as he landed beside Gary, his expression tense. “Everyone’s in position,” Crawley reported. “We don’t know exactly how it’ll play out. If the vehicles stick together, it might be hard to scatter them. It could end up with us being the ones hunted instead of the other way around.” Gary nodded. “Let them come. If they want to wipe us out, they’ll need to come after us, and they’ve got the numbers to split off and do just that.” Crawley spread his wings again, preparing to lift off once more. “They’ll be here any second,” he said, glancing back at Gary. “But remember, you are not to take part in the fight. Not unless it’s absolutely necessary. Understand?” It was somethign talked about among all of the Howlers before all of this, but something Gary hadn’t given a direct answer to. Gary didn’t answer with words. He simply watched as Crawley took to the sky again, disappearing into the night. Then, he heard it. The growl of an engine, louder than the rest. Fast. Reckless. Austin’s bike. It was coming, tearing through the final stretch, heading toward the park. The battle was about to begin. **** Author Notes: For updates on My Werewolf System and future projects, follow me on social media: *Instagram: @jksmanga *Patreon: jksmanga Be the first to hear news on MWS, MVS, and other series. Feel free to message me, I reply when I can!